Placement Report
Internship at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies
(CEIAS) in Slovakia
Author: Aneta Rothová
Student number: S4213467
Programme: MA International Relations
Track: East Asian Studies
External Supervisor: Mr. Matej Šimalčík
Placement Coordinator: Drs. B.L. Aardema
Placement duration: 05.10.2020-22.01.2021
Date: 25.01.2021
2
Obsah
Introduction ... 3
1 Before the placement ... 3
1.1 Selection of placement ... 3
1.2 What is the CEIAS ... 5
1.3 Application process ... 5
2 During the placement ... 7
2.1 Tasks and responsibilities ... 7
2.2 Challenges and personal learning process ... 9
2.3 Supervision and team relations ... 11
2.4 Application of the East Asian Studies Master’s track in practice ... 12
3 After the placement ... 13
3.1 Future career choices ... 13
3
Introduction
As a part of the Master’s programme of International Relations at the University of Groningen, I spent sixteen weeks in total at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS), a foreign policy-focused think tank based in Slovakia. The core of my placement consisted of assisting in the research and participating in other activities of the Institute. Even though the internship was conducted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was nevertheless an enriching experience.
This report aims to reflect upon my experience at the CEIAS. On the following pages, I evaluate the challenges I faced, what I learned, and how the placement influenced my perspective on my future career choices. I will also discuss how the placement aligned with the track of International Relations that I had chosen – the East Asian Studies. By those means, I seek to inform future students who would wish to complete a placement at a similar foreign policy-oriented think tank (or directly at the CEIAS) on what they can expect.
The report is structured as follows. First, I introduce how and why I had decided to do my placement at the CEIAS. I also describe how I approached the institution and what the institution offered to me, based on which I, my supervisor, and my coordinator agreed on the placement. In the second chapter, I describe in detail my tasks and the challenges I encountered as well as how I sought to overcome them. I continue by evaluating the supervision during the placement and the attitude within the team. Finally, I reflect on how the East Asian Studies Master’s track prepared me for the placement. In chapter number 3, I ponder my observation about the nature of working at a research institution, what are the pros and cons of such a job, and how it aligns with my idea of a future career. The report ends by summarizing the concluding remarks about the placement.
1 Before the placement
1.1 Selection of placement
It is crucial to have at least some work experience before entering the job market as a fresh graduate and placements/internships offer an opportunity to gain
4 experience in the studied field. Therefore, I started looking for my Master's placement options right after I had enrolled in my Master's studies. However, the placement opportunities seemed very limited to me. I thought it was because specialization in East Asia is narrow in focus compared to for example International Security. Then I realized that maybe I was just unaware of the opportunities because I had obtained my Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Strategic and Security Studies and was thus new to the field. At the time the COVID-19 pandemic also arose and it was clear to me that placement opportunities would freeze for a while. I thus decided to stop searching for a placement for a while and rather think through what I would like to do.
When the situation around the COVID-19 pandemic got better in June, I already knew I would like to focus on Japan and I also thought I would like to work in the public sector after I finish my studies. I had worked in a humanitarian NGO before as well as at the French embassy in Slovakia. I also worked in an international corporate and after these experiences, I figured I would like to work for the Slovak Ministry of Foreign affairs at one of the Slovak embassies in East Asia. Since I was most interested in Japan, I sent an email to the Slovak embassy in Tokyo first, asking whether there was an opportunity to conduct my placement there. I planned on starting in November 2020, after submitting my thesis. I attached my CV and shortly described my motivation. Within a few hours, I received a response and I exchanged a few emails with the embassy. I was told my application looked promising, but I still needed to send a cover letter, a filled personal questionnaire, a reference letter, and other documents by the end of August to proceed to the next round of interviews. I happily gathered all the documents and sent them to the embassy in the second half of August just to receive a reply that my internship cannot take place until the end of 2020 because the Japanese government denied entry to the country to all foreign students.
Since it turned out I would not be able to go to Tokyo, I started to look for other options. I sent emails to Slovak embassies in other East Asian countries, but the response was always the same: “due to COVID-19, internships are not available”. It
5 looked like the placement options were indeed limited, but this time because of the pandemic rather than because of anything else. The only option other than the embassies that I found intriguing and that also appeared possible was an online placement at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS).
1.2 What is the CEIAS
CEIAS is a think tank based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that brings together researchers from Slovakia and the Czech Republic who try to spread knowledge about foreign and security policy of Asian countries among the larger public as well as policymakers in Slovakia. I started to follow CEIAS on online platforms right before starting my Master in Groningen because I thought it would be a useful source of up-to-date information about Asian affairs and it could help me during my studies. I gradually started to admire the work of the CEIAS for their innovative and determined approach and I even cited some of their articles in my seminary papers. In short, I became a genuine fan of the CEIAS. Moreover, as I have already mentioned, I had experienced work in humanitarian, private, as well as government sectors, research was thus one of the remaining areas that I had never tried working in before. Finally, it was convenient that the Institute was of Slovak origin and based in Slovakia as I moved home from Groningen in the meantime. I could thus work from home without further financial expenses.
1.3 Application process
I emailed Mr. Šimalčík, the director of CEIAS at the end of August. I described my motivation and asked him whether there is a possibility to do an internship at CEIAS. Since there were no job offers for the Institute anywhere on the Internet, I thought it might not be even possible to get into the Institute. Mr. Šimalčík asked me to send him my CV and a writing sample. Shortly after I sent him what he requested, Mr. Šimalčík, an alumnus of East Asian Studies at the University of Groningen himself, replied positively and we arranged a Skype meeting about the internship possibilities.
6 Mr. Šimalčík explained that interns within the CEIAS usually write a monthly newsletter that requires them to keep track of daily news and where they can specialize on a specific country or a topic. Because I mentioned I was interested in Japan, he said I could contribute by writing about Japan, so that I would have a chance to further develop my specialization. He noted that there are few specialists on Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and Mongolia in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, so the Institute could benefit from the focus of my Master's track which encompasses all of those countries. Apart from the newsletter, I would be writing posts for the Institute’s social media accounts and blog entries on topics of interest related to East Asia, Mr. Šimalčík clarified.
However, most of the work of the Institute revolves around China as the country is assuming a growing influence on the international scene and the European countries are not quite sure about how to react to “the Rise of China”. Therefore, as my main task would be to assist in the research of the Institute, most of my work would include topics about China’s influence in Central and Eastern Europe.
Finally, I was also expected to participate in the organisation of educational events for policymakers and the larger public in Bratislava. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictive measures of both the Slovak and the Dutch government, none of the events took place eventually.
I agreed on the tasks Mr. Šimalčík proposed and after the meeting, I contacted my coordinator, Mr. Aardema to confirm whether the internship would indeed satisfy the requirements of the university. I started the placement at the beginning of October.
I was excited, but I was also a little afraid. At the time I started the application process for the placement at CEIAS, I was used to conducting only basic research for school projects and seminary papers, so I was afraid whether I am capable enough to do more rigorous research with a real-life policy impact. I also thought it would be a challenge to publish my writings on the Internet, as the tasks I was supposed to do would include publishing online, something I had never done before. I was afraid
7 of criticism from the readers. But since the challenge is a valuable source of both personal and career development, it seemed like the placement at CEIAS could represent a valuable experience for me.
2 During the placement
2.1 Tasks and responsibilities
First of all, it is important to note that I decided to write my thesis and do the placement at CEIAS simultaneously. I planned to graduate by the end of January 2021. Therefore, I agreed with my supervisor, Mr. Šimalčík, and my placement coordinator, Mr. Aardema, that I would do less-time-consuming tasks at the beginning of the placement until I submit my Master's thesis (due in mid-November). My tasks were supposed to be composed of the writing of the monthly newsletter and writing of short informative posts for social media platforms. That way, I would have sufficient time to work on my thesis as well. It was planned that after submitting the thesis, I would participate in the research on China's influence in Central and Eastern Europe, and write a blog post on a topic of my own choice if I have time. However, in the end, my tasks became slightly different, although the main structure remained the same.
At the beginning of my internship, I was writing entries to the monthly newsletter, but instead of posts for social media, I ended up drafting a proposal for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a policy brief for an embassy of an East Asian country in Slovakia1. In the second half of my internship, I was participating in a
discourse analysis about Chinese investments and the 5G network in Slovakia and was in charge of the organisation of the distribution of the book “Superpower” written by the CEIAS authors. Hence, I did not have time to write a blog post.
Monthly newsletter
CEIAS publishes a newsletter called “Asia Briefing” every month on its website. It is written by CEIAS interns in Slovak and edited by Mr. Šimalčík and Mrs.
8 Barbara Kelemen. The interns should keep track of daily news, recognize interesting topics, and sign up for writing texts about them. The texts should be short, yet informative and analytical, and with perfect grammar. The topics are gathered and dispensed roughly in the middle of each month, so the newsletter can be ready by the end of each month.
Proposal for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a policy brief for an
embassy of an East Asian country
Instead of writing social media posts, Mr. Šimačík charged me with drafting a proposal for a project that CEIAS plans to launch in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia and East Asian countries. I cannot disclose what the project is about, but to write the proposal, I had to research information on the Slovak cooperation with the countries at stake to make a persuasive argument about the benefits of the project. Mr. Šimalčík liked my work and as a result named me as the author when he sent the proposal to the Ministry, which I consider a success.
Similarly, an embassy of an East Asian country in Slovakia sent CEIAS a list of questions and asked Mr. Šimačík to answer and advise them about those questions. They were mostly concerned with the relations of the V4 countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia). The embassy also asked Mr. Šimačík to give an opinion about how Slovak policy towards their country could evolve. Mr. Šimalčík delegated the task to me and it became one of my favorite tasks of the placement.
Distribution of the book “Superpower”
One of my main tasks during the placement was to organise and ensure the distribution of the copies of the newly-published book titled “Superpower” written by the authors from CEIAS. The book is one of the very few books in Slovak about China and was published in December 2020. Supporters of the CEIAS who ordered the book in a pre-sale would receive it in advance directly from the CEIAS right after the book was printed. There were 287 pre-sold books for supporters in total. I was charged with ensuring the process. I communicated with the publisher and went to
9 pick the books up in Bratislava when they were ready and then sent them to destined people.
Discourse analysis about Chinese investments and the 5G network in
Slovakia
The most important task that I was part of was a discourse analysis about Chinese investments and the 5G network in Slovakia. It was part of a larger project called MapInfluenCE that involves the cooperation of various Central European think tanks. I was in a team together with Mr. Šimalčík and Mrs. Kelemen, and we were analysing the discourse about China in Slovak media. The two main topics that we were looking for in the media were Chinese investments and the 5G network, but we were analysing the media articles to find additional themes as well and then we coded them accordingly in our internal database. We had more than four thousand media articles to analyse.
Research assistance on China’s influence in Central and Eastern Europe
Finally, I assisted in other research on China's influence, namely on the cooperation of Central and Eastern European oligarchs with China, China’s investments in Slovakia, and China’s influence at universities around the world. All these topics (but mainly the former two) were highly investigative. In the case of the former two, I researched media articles, government databases, and even the commercial register and compared the accuracy of the data. Then I compiled a report or an Excel sheet with what I found and sent it to either Mr. Šimalčík or Mr. Turcsány, my other supervisor. In the case of the latter, I performed extensive research of all research articles, reports, and media articles available on the Internet. The outcome served as a base for a policy paper about the possible means of China’s influence in Slovakia.2.2 Challenges and personal learning process
Naturally, I encountered the biggest challenges while completing the most important tasks: the monthly newsletter, sending the copies of the new-published book, and coding the articles for the discourse analysis.
10
Monthly newsletter
Contrary to my initial expectation, I did not end up writing much about Japan. That was caused partly by the fact that the topics that make it to the newsletter are limited and there was not always "hot news" about Japan. However, I have to admit that it was also my fault. There are other interns at CEIAS and so the topics for the newsletter are to a certain degree the object of competition. Who signs up for a topic sooner is the one who writes about it. I realized another intern is passionate about Japan as well and sometimes he was also quicker than me. On the other hand, interesting topics about the Korean Peninsula were frequent and I have observed that no other intern has been interested in writing about Korean affairs which seemed like an opportunity for me. Since then I have been covering topics related to the DPRK and South Korea. In short, I have unintentionally found a new point of interest. Moreover, contrary to my initial fears, I have never received criticism from readers.
Distribution of the book “Superpower”
To be honest, I was cautious about the former one, because my placement coordinator, Mr. Aardema told me I should not do strictly administrative tasks as they might not be challenging enough for my personal development. However, to ensure a smooth distribution of 287 books required a lot of responsibility, not only because a high money-value was involved, but it also concerned the reputation of the CEIAS. The most important for me, however, was the responsibility towards the Institute’s supporters who assumingly wanted to receive the book before Christmas (as the books were ready shortly before Christmas). And last but not least, I wanted to prove credible to my supervisors and capable to myself. In other words, it was a big test for my nerves as the tasks included actions of other actors which meant that I could not fully control all the steps of the process. For a naturally quite neurotic person, however, the lack of control causes stress.
I assumed that the best way to avoid stress would be to be prepared and to communicate clearly and timely to avoid complications. Looking back, everything worked out well, there was no major loss, and all books were sent to the right
11 recipients. I think the task could have been assigned to more than one person, but since I was the only person from CEIAS near Bratislava at the time, I cannot think of any better way it could have been done. It was an important lesson for me to see what the process of publishing a book includes, it might be useful for the future in terms of organisational skills in general. From my experience, organising is not as simple as it seems. It includes careful thinking about many details, strict time management, and communication skills. It also requires learning how to not stress more than can be helpful.
Discourse analysis about Chinese investments and the 5G network in
Slovakia
I knew how to do a discourse analysis theoretically, but I had never done one before. Hence the task was new to me. I and my team members received a guidebook on how to code the articles and Mr. Šimalčík was willing to offer help, but I still struggled with coding. At first, I was not coding the themes in enough detail. Then, when my supervisor corrected me, I thought I coded them in too much detail, which was a little tiring and took longer. It took some practice to find a balance. It also helped when I compared my coding progress with one of the other team members, which helped me better understand how to approach the task. Finally, it was nice that we had a group conversation where we shared our struggles, and helped each other.
2.3 Supervision and team relations
I would like to shortly reflect also on the supervision and relations with other CEIAS team members that I worked with as team relations affect the work experience significantly.
Although my placement was conducted online, I maintained very frequent communication with my direct supervisor, Mr. Šimalčík. I appreciated especially my supervisor's quick feedback and his sincerity when he provided it. Based on his feedback I assume I did not make many or fatal mistakes. My mistakes usually involved Slovak grammar in the newsletter (such as misspelling East Asian names
12 in translation). There was also a misunderstanding at the beginning of the coding process, as I mentioned above. But when I made a mistake, my supervisor always explained how to do it better next time rather than criticised me.
Similarly, other team members that I had the opportunity to work with were friendly and treated me with respect. I especially appreciate that although I am younger and less experienced, I was treated like a colleague. I felt like I was assigned the tasks with the total confidence of my supervisors about my capability. In turn, thanks to the attitude in the team, I think I gained more confidence during the placement.
2.4 Application of the East Asian Studies Master’s track in practice
In my opinion, I was lucky to find a placement that perfectly aligned with the track of my studies, as might be apparent from the description of the tasks described above. Therefore, although I had only basic knowledge about East Asian affairs when I came to study in Groningen, I felt well prepared for the placement during the application process already.
My main observation based on my experience is that it has proved helpful that the East Asian Studies Master's track at the University of Groningen does not emphasize only one country in the curricula. For example, the research seminar The
Rise of East Asia: Global versus Local Developments led by prof. Tjalling
Halbertsma focuses on Mongolia and the DPRK but discusses China's power as well. In the Capita East Asia and my other research seminar, students could focus on an East Asian country of their choice, but at the same time, the political regime of China was discussed in great detail. Moreover, during the seminary discussions we always compared the trends in development between various East Asian countries. As a result, the curricula gives students a more versatile knowledge and hence also the ability to put the knowledge in a larger context.
Thanks to the East Asian Studies Master’s track I was aware of the studied field enough to be prepared to research on China, but also to understand the developments in East Asia as a whole, which helped me when I was writing the newsletter.
13 Therefore, even though it is an era of “the Rise of China” I think it is beneficial for the students that the curricula is multidisciplinary and not focused solely on China. In my opinion, it prepares students well for the real-life experience.
3 After the placement
3.1 Future career choices
The placement that I had the opportunity to complete undoubtedly influenced my career choices and helped me decide what type of profession I would like to pursue once I graduate. Before the placement, I imagined my future in the government sector, especially at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, thanks to the experience in a research institution, I witnessed the connection between research and its application in the policy area (especially when writing the proposal for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the policy brief). The pros and cons of such type of job thus became apparent to me. The interaction between research and policy provides researchers with a sense of influence or impact on the policy and thus on the political developments (in this case, on foreign policy on China and other East Asian countries). At the same time, based on my experience I think research positions in think tanks allow individuals to be more independent and more creative compared to positions in the public sector. Think tank researchers are more or less free to choose the topics of their interest. Since every research project is different, work in a think tank is not stereotypical either. Thus, I advise future students who have a strong urge to be creative and independent to try a similar placement (and later job) positions.
On the other hand, based on my experience, a research job is less dynamic, requires a lot of concentration, a swift mind, and can be lonely sometimes. I would thus recommend a placement (or a career) in research institutions mainly to students who particularly enjoy engaging their minds in complex analytical thinking and do not mind the lack of social interactions at work. However, this is solely my observation and might not be the same for all research institutions and all research projects.
14 For me, personally, creativity, independence, and analytical thinking all play an important role when considering a job offer. But I am also seeking a dynamic environment with hands-on experience, for which I believe the private sector is more suitable than research. Therefore, this experience contributed to my decision to search for jobs in private companies in the near future.
Conclusion
In conclusion, after the failure of my initial plans to conduct the placement at one of the Slovak embassies in East Asia due to the COVID-19, I decided to do an internship in a respected think tank in Slovakia. It did not pass without difficulties and personal challenges, but in the end, I had the opportunity to work on a variety of topics and improve a variety of skills, from writing and analytical to organisational. Most importantly, however, I gained more confidence which is crucial for entering the job market. I think I was lucky to be a part of an organisation with a friendly attitude and good team relations.
In my opinion, my placement aligned well with the track of East Asian Studies. The complexity and multidisciplinary nature of the East Asian Studies Master’s track at the University of Groningen also contributed to the fact that I was well-prepared for the internship.
All in all, I would evaluate my placement at the CEIAS as successful and would like to encourage future students to do an internship there as well. However, I think it is important to mention that although both English and Slovak are working languages at the CEIAS, proficiency in Slovak might be necessary. On the other hand, it might be encouraging for Slovak students at the University of Groningen that they could use English on a daily basis while completing the internship at the CEIAS.
